ruminations

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
–NRSVUE

This scripture says Jesus is our Great High Priest. Jesus is called the High Priest of the New Covenant because he fulfills the role of a mediator between God and humanity in a way that no other priest could. The book of Hebrews describes Jesus’ priesthood as greater than that of Aaron and the Levites. This was shocking to first century Jewish readers because Jesus was not a member of the tribe of Levi or Aaron, but rather the tribe of Judah. But the book of Hebrews describes Jesus as being a priest in the order of Melchizedek, which is considered a greater priesthood than that of Aaron and the Levites.

So, what does being a disciple of the Great High Priest, Jesus, mean? In Jesus’ time, learning was relational and holistic, and discipleship involved more than just transferring information. It also meant imitating Jesus’ life, values, and teachings. Discipleship is a journey of spiritual growth and learning that involves following and imitating a teacher or master.

Braeden St∅rkersen says:

The early Christians did not initially call themselves “Christians.” In fact, it’s quite arguable that Jesus and his disciples were not trying to start a new religion at all! The disciples of Jesus were Jewish, Jesus was Jewish, and Jesus was their Rabbi. With Jesus being their Rabbi, this meant that Jesus’s disciples would have thought of themselves as apprentices under Jesus. They were trying to learn everything they could from Jesus about how he thought about the world, and how he lived. It was quite common for a disciple to spend every moment with their Rabbi. To try to become like their Rabbi, and do what they did. Disciples would seek to imitate their Rabbi’s behaviors, down to their accent and tone of voice, and even how they dressed. It could potentially get a little cultish at times by modern standards. There was a common saying in the first century:

“May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi,” because disciples would walk behind their Rabbi every single day and every single step along the way. To be a disciple meant to embrace a very practical spirituality that had more to do with a way of life than a belief system.

This is why when Jesus gives his famous Sermon on the Mount, he concludes (in Matthew 7:24) by saying “if you put my words into practice – then you will be like a wise person who built their house on a rock.” He does not say, if you believe [a certain way] – or if you say [a certain] prayer – or if you become a Christian – then you will be like a wise person who built their house on a rock. No. He says that “if you put my words into practice.” And what were his words that you should put into practice?

If you listen to or read the entirety of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, there is not a single line about believing that Jesus died and rose from the dead, or that you should believe in him to avoid eternal punishment, but what Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is about is how we should live! Jesus talks about how we are to be lights in the world, how we are to not just love our neighbor, but love our enemies, how we are to not tear others down with our words, how we are to not choose destructive paths but choose paths that lead to life, how we are not to judge others, and how we should treat others the way we want to be treated. These are the contents of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, and these are the words that he instructs people to put into practice. It’s about a way of life!

This is why early Christians were not initially called Christians, but followers of the Way – because they understood the reality that following Jesus was about a way of life; not about buying into a particular belief system.

Kurt Struckmeyer writes:
“At the heart of Christianity is a powerful ethic. It is what the first followers of Jesus called the way – a way of living based on love and compassion, reconciliation and forgiveness, inclusion and acceptance, peace and nonviolence, generosity and justice. This ethic is what makes Christianity good.”

Braeden St∅rkersen further says:

If you read the four Synoptic Gospels closely - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – and you will find that they never wrote about Jesus sitting down with his disciples and making sure that they understood that they were sinners, and they needed to believe in him in order to go to Heaven.

In fact, when he first mentions this idea of him dying to his disciples - his disciple Peter is livid – because to Peter that’s not what it means for Jesus to be their Rabbi and their Messiah. Peter tries to literally fight the people arresting Jesus; he doesn’t embrace it as part of the Gospel narrative. This means that for all the years Jesus spent with them, this was not the main topic of conversation. Which you would think, if that’s the main message, “the Gospel”, then Jesus would have been really adamant about making sure his Disciples heard it over and over and over again - yet that’s not what Jesus was preaching.

What Jesus preached about is often summarized as “the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” “the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven,” or simply proclaiming as he does in Matthew 4:17 “From that time on Jesus began to proclaim, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Repent simply means to change your mind and your way of living. And the idea of the Gospel of the Kingdom or the Kingdom of Heaven was a common phrase at that time. It wasn’t new.

It’s historically and theologically documented that “The Gospel” was a political phrase used by the Roman Empire. It was common for the Empire to expand into new territory, and for a messenger to come and proclaim the “good news” that Caesar is Lord (Caesar is Lord was written on Roman currency), so the message of “the Gospel” was that the Roman Empire is now in authority over your region, and that you are then called to submit to live in accordance with the way of the Roman Empire. Jesus uses this language, this political language from his time, to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. That Caesar is not Lord, the Empire is not the ultimate authority, but Jesus is Lord and God is the ultimate authority. You are not to pledge your allegiance to the earthly Empire, but you are to pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of God. You are not to live in accordance with what the Empire asks of you, but you are to live in accordance with what the Lord Jesus asks of you. You are to repent of the various earthly ways of living, and to follow the way of Jesus in line with the kingdom of heaven. So “the Gospel” was not about believing particular doctrines in order to get to heaven after you died, but it was about living in a particular way to bring pockets of heaven to earth in our lifetime.

This is why Jesus instructs his disciples to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is why Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is all about how to live; Jesus is his presenting his way of life – the ethics of the Kingdom of God - and it is through this way of life that Jesus and his early disciples believed that God’s Kingdom would be experienced here on earth as it is in heaven. This is why, (in the beginning of the book of Acts and) at end of the book of Matthew, Jesus’s disciples asked Jesus after he rose from the dead if he was going to establish God’s Kingdom at that time. And he tells them – what has often been called the Great Commission – that God’s Kingdom would be established through them by making disciples of all nations and teaching them to do everything that Jesus taught them to do.

Once again, it’s not about teaching people all the right beliefs, but about living out Jesus’s teachings. That’s what following Jesus is all about. It’s about following a way of life. I hope you can see that this isn’t some new idea or teaching. It’s about trying to make progress in the world by getting back to the heart and soul of what [Jesus] actually taught. I firmly believe that many Christians have lost the plot, so we need – to quote Jesus – “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” If we can repent, if we can change our ways of thinking and living, then I truly believe that we can experience the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.

One of my favorite quotes is from G.K. Chesterton:
“The Christian ideal has not be tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.”

Living out Jesus’s way of life and teaching others to do everything Jesus’ taught us to do is practicing bold discipleship.

— Priest Rob Thomas